[Spyro]

The Grados have this inherrent "graininess" that is more pronounced with the GR8 than the 10 but seems to go away quite a bit after break-in.  Incredibly transparent IEM's.  Grado did a very good job with them.  They are quite euphoric and addicting and clean sounding.  A little high priced but they are certainly different and no clone of anything else.

 

[goodvibes]

They arrived. JH13's the best I've heard to date. Congrats
 
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Give them time the move is subtle but but they get more extended and less congested over some time. What I found interseting is how easily you can tell the differences between sources and firmwares etc. I've often found that when I think I've got a handle on them, I'm actually listening to a source character.

Yea, I would agree.  I DO NOT believe in burn-in but as far as these "moving armatures" go, I certainly felt that they "smoothed out" after about 20 hours.  You can check my profile  to see the other IEM's I have owned but I can attest that I found the GR10 to be the clear #1 IEM as far as acoustic and vocal music.  Just phenommenal.  So if this is mainly what you listen to, look no further.  It kills the top end Westones and Shures by a good margin.
 
But my JH13's just may have taken over the GR10 but it's not really a fair fight.
 

 

[Woody469]

 
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Give them time the move is subtle but but they get more extended and less congested over some time. What I found interseting is how easily you can tell the differences between sources and firmwares etc. I've often found that when I think I've got a handle on them, I'm actually listening to a source character.

I have to agree wholeheartedly. 
Although I'm not real familiar with the music making capabilities of different phones these days (perhaps someone can enlighten me) my guess is that the GR10 would not sound its best connected to a cell phone.
As I've mentioned in the past, I don't think the GR10s are capable of sounding good without dedicated high quality electronics in front of them. When treated like the high end product they really are, they repay in spades.
The Coppers on the other hand tend to be passable with a wider variety of  products but ultimately cannot fully reach  the level of the GR10.
 

 

[bulmanxxi]

The MTPC and GR10 are quite on par for their price range (no way that the GR10 is the superior headphone), rather each has its own strengths and weaknesses with the MPTC being a bit more versatile, dynamic, neutral and extended especially at the low end (which gives them a bit thicker sound which some may perceive as less clear or veiled although that's not really the case).  The GR10, on the other hand, excels with vocal, jazz, acoustic, i.e. simpler quitter type music (not a bad thing by any means but they do not like to go loud rather the GR10 sound their best at moderate volume).  Both are very easy to drive (unlike the GR8) and sound just fine out of the iPhone or iPod.  If anything, the GR10 seems easier to drive than the MTPC (lower setting on the iPod volume).  Seriously, these are portable phones for portable devices.  The idea that they are designed to sit behind desk tube amp is "bleep".  As a matter of fact, if a portable headphone does not sound good straight out of a portable player, it is a "bad" headphone for its intended purpose.

 

[buffalowings]

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The MTPC and GR10 are quite on par for their price range (no way that the GR10 is the superior headphone), rather each has its own strengths and weaknesses with the MPTC being a bit more versatile, dynamic, neutral and extended especially at the low end (which gives them a bit thicker sound which some may perceive as less clear or veiled although that's not really the case).  The GR10, on the other hand, excels with vocal, jazz, acoustic, i.e. simpler quitter type music (not a bad thing by any means but they do not like to go loud rather the GR10 sound their best at moderate volume).  Both are very easy to drive (unlike the GR8) and sound just fine out of the iPhone or iPod.  If anything, the GR10 seems easier to drive than the MTPC (lower setting on the iPod volume).  Seriously, these are portable phones for portable devices.  The idea that they are designed to sit behind desk tube amp is "bleep".  As a matter of fact, if a portable headphone does not sound good straight out of a portable player, it is a "bad" headphone for its intended purpose.

the last sentence sums up my thoughts on portable phones (especially IEM's)

 

[bulmanxxi]

I have now listened to the Grado GR10 enough to make an informed decision and they have been listed on the For Sale forum.  While I like them a lot, they just don't have enough to make me give up my MTPCs and I can't justify keeping both especially since I can listen to only one at a time.  There are many reasons - the MTPCs are simply more versatile and dynamic and cover broader range of music, they go louder, dig deeper, hit harder, plus mine have a built-in mic.  The Grados are much lighter, more comfortable and prettier - ironic, but they sound kinda like they look - delicate.  They don't like to go loud, they are quite clear and they can be enjoyable with certain types of music.  Another puzzling thing is that there are IEMs (as mentioned before) that are much cheaper that come rather close to the capabilities of the GR10 - Etymotic MC3/5 and the UE 4vi (again that's not a bad thing).  The same can't be said for headphones like MTPC.  Add to that the fact that the MTPC as about a $100 cheaper retail, have a built in mic and have a lifetime warranty.  

 

[buffalowings]

Quote:

I have now listened to the Grado GR10 enough to make an informed decision and they have been listed on the For Sale forum.  While I like them a lot, they just don't have enough to make me give up my MTPCs and I can't justify keeping both especially since I can listen to only one at a time.  There are many reasons - the MTPCs are simply more versatile and dynamic and cover broader range of music, they go louder, dig deeper, hit harder, plus mine have a built-in mic.  The Grados are much lighter, more comfortable and prettier - ironic, but they sound kinda like they look - delicate.  They don't like to go loud, they are quite clear and they can be enjoyable with certain types of music.  Another puzzling thing is that there are IEMs (as mentioned before) that are much cheaper that come rather close to the capabilities of the GR10 - Etymotic MC3/5 and the UE 4vi (again that's not a bad thing).  The same can't be said for headphones like MTPC.  Add to that the fact that the MTPC as about a $100 cheaper retail, have a built in mic and have a lifetime warranty.  

actually, without the mic, coppers can be had for $220 new

 

[goodvibes]

Thanks for the review. I didn't care for the coppers. Over the top for me. Viva la difference.

 I get the delicate sounding thing as they're very refined but it's mostly due to the tips (which I like). Try some of you monster tips. I'm sure it won't change your selection as we're all different and they're obviously not your sound. My fav alternative is the UE Biflange but not jamed in deep. Just enough to get a seal. Seem to be the best of the 1/2 dozen Biflanges I've tried. Plenty of fun for me. Spyro pointed to these tips early on and he was spot on. They're better than the generics biflanges which are also a blast but not as balanced.
 
I find the HF5 pretty much smokes the MC5 and the GR10 beats the HF5 which I like. A sound engineering teacher at Columbia college directly compared my GR10s to his HF5s and clearly preferred the Grado. I agree about a portable not doing it's job if it needs an amp.

 

[Spyro]

I think the GR10 beat everything in the Ety line by a good margin.  The GR10 is what I would expect the next generation of an Ety product to sound like.

 

[bulmanxxi]

The UE large clear silicon tips sound the best for me due to fit.  The Monster SuperTips large silicon and double silicon were good also.
MTPC over the top?  Try some Infected Mushroom and let us know then...  Or Boney James...  talk about versatility...
 
The GR10 were excellent with Diana Krall, Norah Jones, etc.

 

[tomscy2000]

So, color me crazy, but I didn't really like the GR10 that much. Yes, it was incredibly technically proficient and transparent, but it was too sharp. Every single note was biting and it made me tired after a while. It did make the SE535 and UM3x sound quite veiled, but I don't know if I actually liked it anymore. One thing though, when switching over, I actually liked the ER4P more despite the fact that I usually find Ety incredibly boring. I think a nice tubey amp will help with the dynamics on the GR10 a bit.

 

[goodvibes]

Somethings up because they're definitely warmer and less etched than a 4P once broken in. I understand preferring something else as all of us are different but that description seems odd. They're a bit telling of source etc. I'm only using FLAC and wav but tried 320 and it was fine though I could hear ambience get chopped a bit. I have a gen 4 touch, gen 3 touch (wav) that works great and a couple of Fuzes for portable. the touch 4 is a bit analytical. The Fuze V1 Rockboxed without dither was a hair cold but with dither a bit warm. The stock firmwares sound quite different from one another. On the V2 build 28 is a bit smooth and 31 a bit etched. My take is that these are pretty revealing and get out what you put in. Can be an issue but the GR10 is very linear so things should never go radically bad. Still doesn't mean that they're for everybody or perfect. Nothing is and they won't compete with the likes of a top custom.

 

[tomscy2000]

Well, I just realized that I accidently turned off my resampler in foobar while listening with the GR10, which degraded my SQ somewhat, and the GR10 I listened to might not've been completely broken it yet. It's not that it sounded bad; that's not at all what I meant, but the crispness of every note was a bit overwhelming for me at louder volumes. The sound was also quite voluminous, so what came at my ears felt like a wall of sound that was very intense and accurate, but a bit too much. It might've been that I wasn't used to it; I'd only spent about 20 minutes listening, but I definitely preferred the soft warmth of the eQ7 although it's not as technically proficient. My preference of the ER4P was in its absence of body; it made the feel of transparency manageable. Perhaps I'm just not used to hearing something as clear as the GR10, but I was definitely overwhelmed by it, and not in as positive a way as I would've liked.

 

[goodvibes]

Let them break in for a while and try more sources. I thought them more aggressive before they had enough hours and now not at all. Run them in at a loud listening level for a couple nights with a mix of tunes. It actually takes longer than that for then to clear out dynamically and I think both of the last 2 negative posters here are jumping the gun. Don't let a disbelief in break in become a self fulfilling prophecy. Give it more time and compare again to the 4p to know it's not just your brain. You mat still not like them but judging from your comments, they should be right up your alley. 
    Resampling shouldn't help matters unless they need to be softened to begin with. I assume these are FLAC with Foobar. If your using an outboard DAC, use wasapi or if XP, kernel. It's funny as we've had these described as everything under the sun except bass monsters. It's a good indicator that they're probably pretty close to neutral but of course, there's more to sound than that.

 

[bulmanxxi]

As I mentioned before, the GR10 do not seem to like louder volumes, so your findings are not surprising to me.  They sound their best at up to moderate levels.  Once you go loud, they become shrill and are no longer fun.